


Marvelous Phoenix

by RiceArchbishop



Category: Marvel vs. Capcom (Video Game), 逆転裁判 | Gyakuten Saiban | Ace Attorney
Genre: Crossover, Gen, Phoenix Wright Kink Meme, Slice of Life, Vingettes
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-08-31
Updated: 2014-08-31
Packaged: 2018-02-15 14:25:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 4,804
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2232327
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RiceArchbishop/pseuds/RiceArchbishop
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A look into the what daily life might be like in the Marvel Vs. Capcom universe for all our favorite Ace Attorneys.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

Apollo’s brow furrowed. “So let me get this straight,” he said, slurring his speech slightly. The night after a successful case was always celebrated with a round of everyone’s favorite drinks. Sometimes more than one round. This particular case had been… stressful, to say the least. The employees of the Wright Anything Agency (plus Maya) were now lounging around the living room in various states of intoxication (minus Trucy, as Phoenix’s No Corrupting My Daughter policy was still firmly in effect). Phoenix was reclining on the couch, grinning as Apollo attempted to make sense of his latest revelation. “You and Maya stopped the apocalypse.”

Phoenix’s grin broadened. “Well, we can’t take all the credit,” he said, glancing at Maya, “but we certainly helped. And I _did_ finish off Galactus, so… there’s that.” 

Athena’s eyes widened. “Apollo… I think he’s telling the truth. I can’t hear any discord.” 

Apollo’s brow had now reached Furrow Factor 4. “I can’t see any of his tells either. Which either means I am _way_ drunker than I thought or he actually did punch out a planet-eating monstrosity.” A snort came from Maya’s direction, and all heads turned in her direction.

“Please,” she said, giving a dismissive wave. “Nick couldn’t punch out Pearly, much less something a hundred times his size.” She grinned, raising an eyebrow at the room in general. “This is the part where you ask…”

“How the hell did the boss fight Galactus if he can’t lift anything heavier than a case file?” finished Athena. 

“Hey, I have _some_ strength…” grumbled Phoenix from the couch. Maya patted his shoulder consolingly. 

“It’s okay, Nick. We all know you feel inadequate compared to Ms. Walters. You’re not alone, trust me.” There was a round of nods. 

“Simon said the first time she pulled the transformation thing in court he almost had a heart attack,” piped up Athena. “And you know how much it takes to throw him off his game.” 

“Anyway,” continued Maya, “Nick beat Galactus by-“

“Y’know, you’re really not giving yourself enough credit, Maya,” interrupted Phoenix. “We never would’ve got there if not for you.”

Maya gave another dismissive wave. “You’re the one who came up with all the ideas, Nick. I just gave you some cover at times.” 

“Oh, please. Without you I would have been toast so many times while I was looking for evidence. Where’d you learn that energy shield thing anyway?”

“I don’t tell you everything we do at Kurain. _Anyway,_ ” she plowed on, with the air of one determined to get to the point. “Nick finished off Galactus the only way we knew how.” Her smile was huge. “He proved he was guilty.”


	2. Chapter 2

_Trust in the system really has reached a new low,_ thought Athena, _when you can get robbed in an alley two streets away from the courthouse._

She surveyed the thug standing before her. He couldn’t have been more generically grizzled if he tried, right down to the department-store knife he was brandishing at her. Then again, perhaps that was the point- with such a typically thuggish appearance, he might be harder to pick out of a lineup. Such were the thoughts that ran through Athena Cykes’ mind when being threatened. 

He was now saying something, probably along the lines of _”Didn’t you hear me, girlie, I said hand over your money.”_ Athena didn’t really care; she just needed him to get a bit closer. If he had friends in hiding that might be a problem, but if that were the case they likely would have jumped her by now. Seeing that he was reluctant to close the gap, she spread her arms and smiled.

“Come at me, bro.”

He snarled, rushing at her knifepoint first. _Drop weight down and to one side… leg comes out to knock him off balance… grab arm, shift weight aaaaand…_ The would-be mugger hit the ground with an enormous _whoof_ as all the air in his lungs suddenly vacated the premises. Athena flashed him a peace sign as his eyes slowly refocused.

He was beginning to form words when a white, gooey substance sped down from above and pinned his jaw shut, similar globs securing his hands and feet. “Well,” said a voice from the shadows, “looks like I didn’t even need to swing by.”

Athena looked up to see a red-and-blue clad figure crouching above her. Well… was “crouching” really the word when you were doing it at a ninety degree angle? She recognized the costume, though. 

“So you’re Spider-Man, huh?” she called up at him. “I thought you worked New York.”

The hero shrugged. “I was in town, thought I might stop a few unsavory elements. But if everyone here is as good as you, I shouldn’t have to worry.” He dropped to the ground, landing nimbly. “Maybe it’s just a trend with the ladies around here? Some thugs tried to hold up another woman on the other side of town- she did things with a whip I didn’t even know were possible.” He flicked out a web strand, whipping it around a few times experimentally. It produced a few audible cracks before getting stuck in Athena’s hair. “Whoops. Dammit. Just my luck with redheads, I guess. I’ll have to keep practicing that.” His eyes caught her badge. “Hey! Are you an attorney like that Phoenix Wright guy?”

Athena was looking at the sticky mess in her hair, aghast. “Um… yeah, I work for him. How do you know the boss? And how-

The web-slinger cut her off. “I met him briefly during the big Galactus thing a while back. Kind of had my hands full with Taskmaster at the time, but he was there long enough to point out something that helped me beat him.” 

“Oh. Neat.” He nodded, turning to go.

“Give him my regards, wouldja? I gotta go- crime to stop, things to punch.”

”Er, Spider-Man?” she said as she managed to entangle both hands in the mess in her hair. “How do I…”

He laughed, looking back at her as he shot a web-strand into the darkness. “Don’t worry! If it lasts for more than two hours, call your hair-care professional!”

As he sprang away into the night, she was left holding a tacky strand of webbing and staring at the space where he’d been just a moment before.

There were not many situations that put Athena Cykes at a loss for words. But as it turns out, having a famous superhero toss a dirty joke at her and leap into the shadows was one of them.


	3. Chapter 3

“HEY! You! Samurai dude!”

Simon did not like being snuck up upon. He equally disliked it when people suddenly grabbed him from behind. But when people snuck up on him, grabbed him, and yelled at him simultaneously, it tended to produce some… overstated reactions.

He looked down at the abdomen through which his sword was now sticking, eyes widening in horror. No… no, this couldn’t be happening, he would never actually kill anyone, he-

“Yes, exactly! Guy with the pointy stabby thing! Nice reflexes, by the way, I barely caught that. Well, I caught it with my kidney. At least I think that’s my kidney- it’s just kind of a big mess in there these days. But whatever.”

He blinked. The voice addressing him was coming from the person he had just stabbed, who seemed remarkably nonchalant about… well, about having just been stabbed. He looked up, taking in the black-and-red mask and numerous armaments. The ex-Twisted Samurai attempted speech, failed, and tried again. “...’But whatever?’” was the best he could manage.

The costumed figure shrugged. “Healing factor, dude. ‘S all cool. Pain is pretty much the only way I can get off now anyway.” Simon really had no response to that, which made it a good thing that his new acquaintance continued on. “Speaking of, I wanted to know: what do you think of all the sweet Athena booty you’ve been getting?”

Images of Cykes-dono in entirely inappropriate contexts flashed into his mind. “Ah…” he said, hands still gripped tightly around the hilt of his sword. “Cykes-dono is my friend and occasional rival. I… don’t believe we…” 

The mercenary began shaking him, causing the sword to slide back and forth with a _splorch-_ ing sound. “C’mon, man! You’re on a kink meme! You’re dark and brooding, she’s bubbly and peppy! The shippers looooooooove you!” He stopped, apparently considering. “Actually, with all those AUs it might get kinda confusing, huh?” He shot a look at the second wall. “Hey! Has this one been banging the redheaded hottie?”

Over here, Deadpool.

“Oh! Right! _Fourth_ wall. Always getting those confused. So, has this one been…?”

We heard you the first time. No, this version of Blackquill does not have the sexytimes with Ms. Cykes. The author does not find it to his liking.

“Oh. Damn.” Deadpool slouched for a moment before brightening. “Hey! Do you think maybe you could write _me_ and Athena-“

 _No._ If the author doesn’t like Cykesquill, what makes you think he’d like Cykespool?"

"Hm. How about me and this guy, then? I'm into swords."

Similarly, what makes you think he'd like Deadquill? …Oh lord, that’s a terrible ship name. Wilquill? Blackpool?

“I prefer Deadquill.”

Of course you do. And I’m sure someone’s writing it somewhere, right now. And it’s all my fault. Good job.

The Merc With A Mouth gave a jaunty salute. “That’s what I’m here for! Morbid humor and inappropriate arousal!”

Just for that, I’m going to tell all the readers that your dialogue should be thought of in the Will Friedle voice, not the Nolan North one.

“Hey! Wait! That’s not even the right universe!”

Tough shit, Wade. It’s canon now. Deal with it.

“Awwww man…”

Deadpool grumbled something about missing his boxes as he left, slicing himself further on Simon’s sword without apparently noticing that he was doing so. The maneuver left a really quite disturbing amount of blood on the floor. Simon watched in stunned silence as a man who had just had a conversation with thin air left the building.

The author’s apologies, Prosecutor Blackquill. Tell you what, here’s what I’ll do for you…

After some Edgeworth-mandated therapy following “the mercenary incident,” Simon grew to be at peace not just with the traumatic encounter, but also his time spent in jail. He grew closer to those at the Wright Anything Agency, and was even known to show hints of a genuine smile now and then. Eventually he was introduced to a remarkable woman named Lana Skye, in whose company he is now frequently seen.


	4. Chapter 4

They met every week for lunch, usually on Wednesdays. From the street, they didn’t look very suspicious- three lawyers getting together to talk shop and enjoy a meal. If pressed, one might recognize Phoenix Wright from his characteristic blue suit and spiky hair. The mousy woman and redheaded man sitting with him were notable only for the fact that the man seemed to wear sunglasses at all times. 

“So Jennifer,” said the redhead, “how’s life?”

The woman shrugged. “Had an interesting meeting the other day with the Chief Prosecutor. He asked me to ‘kindly refrain from traumatizing his employees.’” 

Phoenix chuckled. “Well, you did give Winston Payne quite a fright.”

Jennifer’s shoulders shrunk. “It was an accident! I didn’t mean to make him faint! I thought he’d had an actual heart attack.”

It was the other man’s turn to chuckle. “I bet your better half got a kick out of that.”

She snorted. “She thought it was hilarious- the look on his face kinda was, I’ll admit. It did make the rest of the trial super easy, though. How about you, Matt? Anything interesting happen in your world?”

Matt Murdock half-smiled. “Well,” he said, lowering his voice, “I did have the opportunity to speak to a certain web-slinger the other day.” 

Phoenix raised an eyebrow. “I heard he was in town recently. He surprised one of my employees to no end when she was walking home a few nights ago.”

Murdock nodded, still smiling. “He was wondering what kind of trouble three lawyers get up to in a city like this.”

Jennifer grinned. “What’d you tell him?”

“Oh, you know, the usual- filing some briefs, lodging some objections.” He leaned back in his seat. “The occasional bit of mayhem when She-Hulk parties too hard and drags her friends into vigilante work.” 

“ _I_ drag _you_ into vigilante work? Half the time it’s you pulling me away to go patrolling. ‘Civic duty’ and all that.”

“In fairness, Jen,” put in Phoenix, “you don’t say ‘no’ to a drunk She-Hulk.” 

“Let’s _not_ discuss what we’re all like when we’re drunk, shall we?” she replied. “Because then I’m going to have to point out how you start putting that protégé of yours to shame with your ‘Objection!’-ing and how Matt starts that broody narration thing.”

“Hey, I do _not_ narrate,” said Matt. Phoenix, at least, had the decency to look embarrassed.

A bit of the titan within showed through in Jennifer’s positively savage smile. “Oh yes you do. You might not think we can hear you muttering like Max Payne on a bender, but we definitely can.” Matt grumbled something about inaccurate comparisons before sipping his drink. Jennifer turned to Phoenix. “So what’s new at the Agency?”

“Ah. Well,” said Phoenix, “one of our mutual acquaintances actually met my daughter the other day…”


	5. Chapter 5

The show had gone excellently, as usual. Trucy hummed happily to herself as she unwound in her dressing room. Saturday crowds were always the best. There was a knock at the door- probably Prosecutor Gavin, here to congratulate her and joke about how the Wonder Bar was _wunderbar._ She sighed wistfully to herself as she got up to open the door. Sense of humor aside, he was still such a dreamboat. 

The man at the door, though, was not the fabulous prosecutor she had expected- in fact, he looked more like a grizzled version of any one of a dozen businessmen who frequented the Wonder Bar. 

“Ah, hey,” he said. “I’m Tony, I’m a friend of your father’s? Nice to meet you.” He extended a hand, which she shook, a little bemused. 

“Hi… so were you here for the….” She trailed off as he pushed past her into her dressing room, focused intently on her gear. “Ah… come on in?”

“Thanks,” he said distractedly. “So, is what was his name, Mr. Hat, operated by spring or servomotor? Or is he just a puppet? No- deployment is too complex for purely analog control. And a determined series of motions would definitely help with the hat grab on the way out. Probably springs for deployment, a hidden trigger in your cape for the mouth controls?” He glanced at her. “You might even be able to work it so that they’re the same switch.” 

Trucy was more than a little overwhelmed. “Er…” she stammered. “Well- magicians don’t typically share their secrets, Mr. Tony…”

“Huh?” He looked puzzled for a moment, as though trying to figure out why in the world anyone wouldn’t want to talk shop with him. Then he blinked, eyes clearing with realization. “Oh! Right! Jarvis, draw up something that says this young lady can sue my ass off if I ever tell, wouldja?” 

“Right away, sir,” said a cool voice from nowhere, making Trucy jump. A second later, her phone dinged an incoming email alert. 

“There you go,” said Tony, who was now under the sawing-Polly-in-half box, tinkering. “Your secrets are officially safe with me. Now, c’mere and show me how this works- I’m more of an engine guy myself.”

Something struck a chord in Trucy’s memory. “Hang on- are you Tony _Stark?_ ”

He sighed. “Well, I suppose that was inevitable. Yep. Tony Stark, Iron Man, That Bastard CEO, whatever you want to call me. Now, are you going to fangirl or are we going to get something done?”

Trucy had been bouncing on the balls of her feet, hyping up into full fangirl mode, but his remark slowed the hype train a bit. She cleared her throat. “Sorry, I’ve just been a fan of your work for a long time. Magic is 80% engineering, 20% showmanship, after all. Can I ask-“ He made a sharp motion, cutting her off.

“How about this: I ask a question, you give an answer. Then we switch. Deal?” She nodded vigorously. “Okay, good. First question: I can see where you trip the latch, but I was watching during the show and you never even came near here. How’d you do it?”

A smile slid up Trucy’s face as she joined him under the box. “I’m actually really proud of that one. If you look over here…”


	6. Chapter 6

_”So,”_ said the redhead currently standing across the open lot from Phoenix. “We need to settle the debate.” 

_This is a bad idea,_ thought Phoenix. _This is very obviously a bad idea._ “Challenge accepted!” he shouted, thrusting out his pointer finger. _No! Bad! Stop! She’s the avatar of an all-powerful cosmic entity, I’m a lawyer! She’s going to make me very dead! Why am I getting into battle stance?_

_Oh. We’re both drunk. Right._

“KICK HER BUTT, MR. NICK!” yelled Pearl from the sidelines, where she was watching with a very excited Ema, a very amused Athena, and an equally drunk Maya. He shared a nod with Maya before turning back to the other Phoenix. 

_Well… I suppose this is happening. Just need to not die…_

“Ready?” he called.

“FIGHT!” shouted the assembled watchers.

She was surprisingly fast, even when drunk, rushing toward him wrapped in a cloak of flames. That was fine, speed and coordination had never been his thing. “Maya!” he yelled, dancing backwards. She was there in a flash, swirling pink energy soaking up the hits, her own battle cry matching Jean’s in intensity. _Good to see she can still do that while drunk. C’mon, evidence, evidence…_

There. An empty bottle, glinting in the grass. He snatched it up just as Maya’s shield started to falter. She teetered for a second, flailing her arms wildly before falling face-first towards the ground. Fortunately, she grabbed a handful of clothing belonging to a very-surprised Jean Grey, who, intoxicated as she was, went right down with the ship.

Phoenix, intoxicated as _he_ was, lost about twenty seconds laughing as they disentangled themselves.

_Right. Shoot. Evidence._ He looked around frantically, struggling to focus. Fortunately, Maya seemed to have involved Jean in a catfight, from which shouts of _”MY PHOENIX IS THE GREATEST PHOENIX”_ and _”THE POWER OF SPACE JESUS COMPELS YOU”_ could now be heard. Grass… grass… dirt… grass… children’s toy… there!

He pocketed the second piece of evidence, a cocktail umbrella, just as the female Phoenix succeeded in pushing Maya away and staggering to her feet. He took advantage of her head rush to move in get right up in her face.

**”HOLD IT!”**

Jean clamped her hands over her ears, cringing at the loud noise. He winced as well, but maintained his concentration long enough to give her a good hard shove. She staggered backward, shaking her head to clear it. “Maya! Buy me a little more time!”

Maya came barreling in from behind him, arms flailing madly at the dazed redhead. They collided once more in a flurry of limbs, the catfight reignited. He was, he had to admit, momentarily distracted by the sight of Maya clawing at Jean while shouting _”STEEL SAMURAI SMELTING NO JUTSU!”_

But only momentarily- he spotted the glint of the last piece of evidence he needed in the grass. As Jean came hurtling toward him once more, she almost ran into his outstretched pointer finger. 

**”OBJECTION!”**

Phoenix skidded to a halt, eyes focusing blearily on the items he had thrust in her face. “A bottle of my favorite lager!” he said, smiling triumphantly. She narrowed her eyes, about to say something, but he beat her to it, holding out the next piece of evidence. “The umbrella from your favorite drink! These things prove conclusively that we have been drinking! The defense suggests that there may have been a third party present at our revels, one who none of us were aware of, and who planted this idea in our heads while we were intoxicated! The question is, who was it?” Reaching into his pocket he produced the third and final piece of evidence- a cufflink shaped like a stylized capital G.

Phoenix rounded on the shadows behind a nearby building. “The one who actually committed the crime… is you!” he yelled, deploying an accusatory finger. A figure started in the shadows, and attempted to flee.

“Teleport!” In an instant, Jean was in front of him, barring his path and putting a halt to his attempted exit. In the light of her fire, he was revealed.

“Prosecutor Gavin!” called Phoenix, striding up behind him. Maya, Ema, and Pearl joined him. “No alibi!”

“No justice!” added Maya.

“No dream!” continued Pearl.

“No hope!” said Ema, grinning from ear to ear. 

As one, five pointer fingers leveled at the encircled prosecutor.

**”TAKE THAT!”**

Klavier looked around, grinned hopelessly, and gave a defeated shrug. “Ach, well… you can’t blame me for being curious.”


	7. Chapter 7

“Nee-san… are you sure this is a good idea?” Simon asked from his corner of the hangar.

“If you have a better one, Simon, I’d be more than happy to hear it,” replied Aura, her fingers flying across her keyboard as she ran diagnostics on the Judge-Tron. The room shook slightly, as if there had been a short earthquake. 

Nobody was sure why the giant pink-and-purple robot calling itself “Sentinel” had come into the city. However, the robotic terror was now causing widespread destruction and all conventional attempts to stop it had failed. Thus, the city had called in their leading robotics expert. 

Aura smirked as she glanced over at where Simon was gripping his sword tightly. “Besides, I thought you’d love this,” she said. “Isn’t ‘giant robot fight’ how everything is settled in your precious anime?” 

Simon’s frown deepened. “That’s not _strictly_ the case, and now is not really the time, anyway.”

She nodded, watching the final bars turn green on the display before her. “We’re good to go.” She glanced up at the head of her creation, looking concerned for a moment. “Really wish I had designed this thing so that someone could control it… but for now, we’ll just have to trust the AI.” Her expression clouded over, her frustration evident. “Grr… seven years on and I’m still no good at that. Dammit, Metis…” She trailed off.

Her brother laid a hand on her shoulder. “It will be fine.”

She brushed the hand away, turning on him. “The hell it will be! I used the same base algorithms as Ponco and Clonco, so the thing probably won’t just blue screen, but they’re greeter bots and this thing has to fight!” She ran a hand through her hair as she turned back to the console, flipping a switch marked “Main Power.” “What’s supposed to happen when it gets damaged? How does it know when to attack and when to dodge? Hell, it doesn’t even know what dodging is! This sort of thing should take years to design, but no, no time, throw it together in a few hours, Aura, because there’s a goddamn Sentinel-thing smashing up the business district as we speak!” She stopped, breathing heavily as the robot straightened up. 

Simon looked uncharacteristically worried. “Ah… well… you’re a genius, I’m sure…”

She rounded on him again. “Yes, I’m a genius- at hardware, not software, and AI design is about as complex a discipline as they come. _The act of walking_ is more complicated than you could possibly imagine.” She took a deep breath. “But it’s fine. Fine. Whatever. If this fails, we’ll just… I don’t even know.” Her next breath was a little more shuddering. “Dammit, Metis…” 

As the robot proceeded out the main doors of the hangar, where military units were waiting to guide it to the Sentinel, Simon watched awkwardly as his sister visibly grappled with her memories. Finally, he made a decision and pulled her into a hug. “You put together a battle AI in three hours,” he said. “She would be indescribably proud.” 

She looked up at him with a mixture of annoyance, worry, and long-buried sadness. At last, she hugged him back. “Thanks.” Pulling out of the hug, she went over to the console. “Okay. Right. No time to reminisce. We’ll do what we can from here. Turn on the eye-cam feeds, I can at least direct power flow and manage some base directives.” Simon nodded briskly, moving to man the station next to hers. Monitors flicked on, letting them see what the Judge-Tron was seeing. “And turn on the news- multiple angles couldn’t hurt.”

The Sentinel had just noticed the Judge-Tron and was moving to face it. “IDENTIFY: FRIEND OR FOE,” it said. 

Simon glanced at her. “Maybe we could try talking to it.”

Her finger tapped the “transmit” button on the console’s microphone. “Foe. Directive: judge and sentence criminals. You are in violation of numerous city ordinances. Desist or be judged.” Her brother looked at her, brow furrowed. She released the button. “It probably has a limited vocabulary. It’s better if it thinks it’s talking to another AI.” 

“THIS UNIT IS A FRIEND,” replied the Sentinel. “DIRECTIVE: SEEK OUT AND ELIMINATE MUTANT THREAT. DO NOT ATTEMPT IMPEDE DIRECTIVE.” 

Aura shot a worried look at her brother. “Mutant threat? What is it talking about? Authority?” The last was directed into the microphone.

“CLASSIFIED.” 

“Without proper credentials,” said Aura, “ you will be judged. This is your final warning.”

The Sentinel didn’t bother responding. As its fist rose, Aura slammed a quick series of commands into the terminal. Red lights engaged across the board, and the words “TARGET ACQUIRED” flashed up on the screen.

Judge-Tron took the Sentinel’s first punch square on as it stomped forward, raising its giant gavel. The gavel came down right on the other robot’s shoulder with a crash that made all of the attendant police officers cover their ears. Aura gave a brief fist-pump before frantically redirecting power to keep the damage to a minimum. 

The Sentinel didn’t seem to mind- but then, its robotic face wasn’t very expressive. Its left arm dangled uselessly, the fingers giving the occasional errant twitch. “DAMAGE SUSTAINED,” it said, quite unnecessarily. “UPGRADING THREAT LEVEL.” With that, it fired a pair of lasers from its eyes, striking the Judge-Tron’s already-weakened plating. Simon glanced at Aura, worried lines creasing his brow. She smiled back.

“Lasers? Ha. No robot of mine is going to go down to an energy weapon.” On the screen, Judge-Tron swung its gavel sideways, connecting with the Sentinel’s head with a resounding _CLANG,_ knocking the giant pink-and-purple monstrosity sideways and sending it sprawling. In the relative respite, Aura’s fingers raced over the keyboard, sending all available power to a system in the back. 

Aura’s combat algorithms may not have been sophisticated, but they knew what to do with a downed opponent. Jets of fire blossomed from the Judge-Tron’s back as its jetpack deployed, helping it leap a good fifty feet into the air. 

On the ground, the Sentinel struggled, trying and failing to get to its feet. “CEASE COMBAT,” it said, sounding a little dazed. “THIS UNIT OBJECTS TO THIS TREATMENT!”

The jetpack cut out, and the Judge-Tron plummeted, gavel swinging back. Aura’s grin was absolutely savage as she slammed down on the microphone’s transmit button. 

“OBJECTION OVERRULED!”

The gavel whipped forward, smashing into the other robot’s chest. The Sentinel let out a high-pitched electronic screech, firing off weapons systems and jerking around spastically. Both fists detached and blasted away on rocket boosters, machine guns emerged from the shoulders and fired wildly, and the laser eyes blasted straight upwards, nearly hitting a news chopper. Finally, the thrashes subsided to twitches and lasers petered out as the giant robot finally lay still.

There was silence at the control station for a solid thirty seconds, both siblings watching the monitors with every muscle taut.

“YEEEAAAAH!!!” Aura yelled, finally breaking the silence. “Yes! Get JUDGED! GYAXA, motherfucker! SUCK ON MY GAVEL!” She broke into a most uncharacteristic victory dance around the room as her brother watched with a small smile and one raised eyebrow. He finally let out the breath he’d been holding, leaning back on his console and watching his sister enjoy the moment. 

“It’s been a while,” he said, mostly to himself, “since I’ve seen you this happy.”

She turned to face him, freezing mid-dance. A retort rose in her throat, but she bit it off, shrugging. “Well, what can I say?” she asked, still smiling. “Maybe your anime was right. 

“Maybe sometimes you just have to beat up a giant robot.”


End file.
